I already know where Her Majesty will place the head of the Seven. She picks her spots out in advance, prepares them in case of an unplanned discontinuation of service. It will be in the little clearing out by Dam Number Four in the nature preserve by the airport—the same one where I met Tim all those years ago. It was I who suggested that the byproducts of her harvest be entombed there.
I sit down and pen a riddle. I’ll slip it into Mr. Hathaway’s coat this evening whenever the opportunity presents itself.
It’s some of my best work. Without thinking, I sign it with my initials. CAT.
But then I erase them. I don’t want this coming back to bite me if Miss Wonder cocks this up.
But already I know she won’t.
For several reasons. I’ll make some insurance. The last server to be discontinued was the Nine of Diamonds. I keep a deck of cards in my desk at all times, and I’ll slip a Seven of Spades and a Nine of Diamonds into her bag when she returns tonight.
That will seal the deal.
But even without the insurance, I know she will succeed in whichever task she presents herself with.
Because Miss Wonder… She’s my angel.
All went as planned. I sneaked the playing cards into Miss Wonder’s purse in a small manila envelope when she reached into it for her ID, and I had easy access to Mr. Hathaway’s jacket when he pinned me against the wall upon his exit. A little sleight of hand goes a long way.
Again, he left Aces after Miss Wonder, but this time it was not in the wake of a quarrel. He seemed to be on Miss Wonder’s tail.
It will only be a matter of time before the pieces start falling into place like a king and queen on a chessboard.
I’m overjoyed when my burner phone rings in the dead of night.
I turn on an app to distort my voice and dictate the second half of the riddle to Miss Wonder. It’s well written, some of my best work.
Now to wait.
What has been set into motion now cannot be stopped.
A knock at my door.
No one knocks at my door.
I slowly sit up from my inflatable couch and cross the room, look through the peephole.
My heart palpitates as I realize Her Majesty is at my door.
She’s draped in a smart pantsuit, her hair tied back into a ponytail and an enormous pair of stylish sunglasses over her face, but even incognito she’s easy to identify. The fire of her hair is unmistakable.
I open the door. “Rouge?”
She waltzes in without invitation. “Chet, darling. Put on a pot of tea.”
I bow my head. “Of course, my Queen.” I quickly fill a kettle with water and set it on my gas stove. “It will just be a moment.”
“Excellent. I won’t be long.” She sits at my kitchen table and crosses her legs. “I’m afraid I have some troubling news to share.”
“Troubling?” The kettle whistles—it always seems to heat up faster in Her Majesty’s presence—and I pour it over a few teabags into a plain teapot.
“Yes,” she says. “You know Mr. Sinclair, my King of Hearts?”
“Of course.”
“He telephoned me late last night saying that he spotted two silhouetted figures leaving Dam Number Four in the Forest Park reserve in the wee hours of the morning.”
For once I hold back a smile. Mr. Hathaway and Miss Wonder must have figured it out.
